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Bahamas hosts INTERPOL programme to enhance fight against organized crime in the Americas

NASSAU, Bahamas – The latest session in a three-year programme coordinated by INTERPOL to boost national law enforcement’s ability to fight drugs trafficking and organized crime across the Americas has opened in Nassau, Bahamas.

Some 21 law enforcement officials involved in investigations into illicit drugs and transnational organized crime from across Central America and the Caribbean (Anguilla, The Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Montserrat and Nicaragua) are taking part in the two-week (6 – 17 May) programme, organized by INTERPOL’s Capacity Building and Training Directorate.

“The launch of this training initiative here in the Bahamas, is another clear indication of INTERPOL’s commitment to capacity building in police forces worldwide,” said Commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Mr Ellison Greenslade.

“It fulfills an urgent need to further sensitize and train police officers and law enforcement partners to effectively deal with emerging global threats such as trafficking in persons, human smuggling, trafficking in illicit goods, weapons and drug trafficking, counterfeiting, money laundering, and a long list of other crimes,” added the Commissioner.

Welcoming the participants, Minster of National Security Dr Bernard J. Nottage said, “You have come here to receive hands on training in practical ways to harness and develop your skills for taking action against the insidious threat to our way of life from drugs and organized crime and from the evils they bring in their wake: violence, crime, corruption, the breakdown of family life and the destruction of young people.”

INTERPOL’ s Director of Training and Capacity Building, Dale Sheehan highlighted that the over-reaching goal of the three-year programme, launched in 2011, was sustainability and that successes had already been achieved.

“Through strong training and capacity building standards developed by our programmes, we have already seen an impact on the ground, with those who have benefitted having already gone out and trained some 1,600 other law enforcement officers in the past year alone. This is sustainability,” said Mr Sheehan.

Agencies taking part in this training include the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Regional School for Anti-drug Intelligence of the American Community, in addition to specialists from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the National Police of Colombia.

As part of a combined approach the programme is running bilingually in Spanish and English, with all participants contributing their professional knowledge in core subjects. Participants include drugs and organized crime investigators from specialized law enforcement agencies, customs officials, prosecutors and INTERPOL National Central Bureau officials involved in police communications.